Mac constantly sounds like its writing to hard drive

[hauntvictim]

Is there a way to check to see what might be running on my Mac, its 2009 replaced hard drive last year. Maybe its just old but it sounds like something is still running on it, even when not in use. For example I go to bed and I hear like the hard drive noise. Can I use activity monitor to see what might cause it? Maybe is a rogue app.

 

[NT1440]

Is there a way to check to see what might be running on my Mac, its 2009 replaced hard drive last year. Maybe its just old but it sounds like something is still running on it, even when not in use. For example I go to bed and I hear like the hard drive noise. Can I use activity monitor to see what might cause it? Maybe is a rogue app.

What kind of computer is this? If it's an iMac, the 2009's run very warm and you're likely hearing the fan.

 

[hauntvictim]

What kind of computer is this? If it's an iMac, the 2009's run very warm and you're likely hearing the fan.

Ah, yes it is a 2009 iMac. What about when it does a back up via time capsule? I noticed it this morning. Was backing up and was making that noise.

 

[NT1440]

Ah, yes it is a 2009 iMac. What about when it does a back up via time capsule? I noticed it this morning. Was backing up and was making that noise.

The sound might be your time capsule hard drive spinning up then

 

[bent christian]

iostat -w1

will show active drive writes in real time.

 

[NoBoMac]

Was backing up and was making that noise.

Well, yes. Whether the drive is being read or writing, will make the same sounds since the disk is spinning and the read/write head is moving. And as NT1440 said, the destination drive will be making noise as well, since its drive is spinning and read/write head is moving.

Add in possibly that the machine wakes at night to do possible checks for software updates...